Portable hose carts for convenient handling and storage of a garden hose have gained wide public acceptance. These carts, which are chiefly made up of molded plastic components, include a rotatable reel for taking up and paying out the hose, a frame supporting the reel, wheels at one end of the base of the frame, and a handle for tilting the frame onto the wheels so that the cart may be easily moved. For more information concerning the structure and operation of such hose carts, reference may be made to commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 32,510 and 4,777,976, the teachings of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
While such hose carts perform satisfactorily, there is always room for improvement. As these hose carts are for the general consuming public, it is desirable that the carts can be easily assembled. Commercially available hose carts use threaded fasteners to join major components. The use of such fasteners can be time consuming and requires the use of a simple hand tool.
Various connector assemblies have been proposed for joining two structural members without the use of threaded fasteners. One such assembly includes a female member having a T-shaped aperture. The male member includes a head joined to its structure by a stem for reception in the narrow portion of the aperture. Trailing the head are a pair of resilient fingers for bearing against and biting into the wall in which the aperture is formed. This assembly is made of sheet metal which is subject to rust and the assembled components have exposed sharp edges. For further information concerning the structure and operation of such a prior art assembly, reference may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,156,282.